


Release

by burning_roses



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Transphobia mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 16:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18183044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burning_roses/pseuds/burning_roses
Summary: The gatekeeper and gardener of the Scarlet Devil Mansion enters Gensokyo.Everything is different.





	Release

The leap from reality to fantasy didn't take long, objectively speaking. Those rooted in the outside world would note a mysterious mansion disappearing one day, without a trace, if they had ever noticed it there in the first place. Those steeped in the realm of illusions would discover a new building looming on the shores of Misty Lake as though it had been there all along. It was simple and clean. No longer than twelve seconds would pass before the Scarlet Devil Mansion would appear in Gensokyo for the first time.

That being said, time was largely a construct of perception. For the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, twelve seconds could stretch out for a long, long time. 

Thin, wiry, muscular. Short black hair and slender hips and bloody knuckles, calloused from relentless, bone-breaking training. Scars, scattered across deeply-tanned skin, from years of working in the sun when the devil herself was sleeping. Uniform prim and well-kept and smelling faintly of roses from working out in the gardens; roses and sweat, on hot summer days. 

They had always looked that way because the world had always expected them to look that way. Human belief was just sort of like that. It allowed Youkai to exist, filling in the dark gaps of the unknown, but only within the narrow confines of their own limited understanding. The Gatekeeper was a man, that was what the humans always said. Thus, that is the role the gatekeeper had to play. They couldn't argue against their own nature as a youkai. Not if they wanted to survive. That was the truth they had lived with for their entire life.

They felt something shift, however. An unrealized clarity that shone through their mind. 

Traveling between the border of reality and fantasy, between the outside world and Gensokyo, the land where creatures of fantasy could exist even when forgotten...

It didn't matter what the world thought she was.

It was like a cord wrapped around her heart was quietly, painlessly cut, and a tension she tried so hard to ignore suddenly relieved.

She smiled. 

And she laughed. 

And she cried. 

It was twelve seconds, but it was also a hundred years as memories flickered before her-- those small happy moments she could carve out where she was viewed and acknowledged and embraced as something other than a man. They all flowed through her, as her new form began to take shape. 

She blinked her eyes open, laying sprawled in the gardens with her long red hair spilling out every which way. A sky full of brand new stars-- Gensokyo's stars-- shined down on her. 

“Hong,” the head maid said, silvery hair catching the moonlight as she stepped out through the main doors to check on her. “Is that you?” 

“Ah-- Miss Sakuya!” the gatekeeper sprung to her feet, beaming. “Ah, sorry, eheh! I didn’t mean to look untidy or anything… I, um! I was keeping watch, but I guess I waited a little too long and the spell triggered. But-- but-- the spell worked, then! We're in Gensokyo. We made it.” She looked down at herself, brushing her hands across the dark green uniform that had become a rather cute dress in the meantime, complete with a long flirty slit down the skirt (how daring!) 

“I-- “ Sakuya stumbled over her words. “Yes, yes we did. You should have been in the mansion with the rest of us. It would have been safer…” her lips formed a tight frown as she examined the woman before her. Tall and wiry-muscular, with scars all over her body, but with soft curves and bright red hair that flowed down to her waist. And, more than that… a smile. Bright as the moon above them. “I don't think I've ever seen you this... happy.” She finally managed, after taking in everything about her.

And then, before Sakuya could say anything else she let out an ungraceful “--Hrk!” as the guardswoman grabbed her and hugged her, lifting her into the air. 

“You know what? Me neither, Miss Sakuya!” she laughed, twirling her. 

“Hong,” Sakuya warned. 

“Eh-heh! Sorry.” She set her down again. “But, um. I was also thinking. You… should call me Meiling. I think it's pretty, you know? And calling me Hong all the time is so--” 

“The lady is preparing to introduce ourselves to Gensokyo at large.” Sakuya’s voice was as sharp as her knives, and her intent as focused as ever. She’d come out of the mansion with a job to do, after all. “Your presence would be appreciated inside.” 

Meiling pouted. “You're so formal, Miss Sakuya.” 

“Yes, well. I want to keep things on track.” She gestured for her to follow. “You know she gets impatient easily, Meiling.” 

The guard clasped her hands in front of her, suppressing a very girlish squeal as she heard the name spoken aloud. It was too much at once, and yet nowhere near enough. She wanted a lifetime of it. She needed to hear it a hundred thousand times, until the syllables lost all meaning. She lived too long without it. 

But there would be time in the future. Time to simply be Meiling. Time to live, for the first time in her life. Sakuya was already walking, and Meiling bounded to follow before she got left behind. “Ah-! Of course!”

She couldn’t wait to introduce herself.

_Hong Meiling._

It had a nice ring to it.

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as kind of a vent fic, after dealing with transphobia at the office. 
> 
> I wanted to express something positive. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
